by David Lubar
“Perfect,” Kendra said.
Her dad held the kite while Kendra unspooled about twenty yards of line. “Ready?” he asked. He held the kite up and waited. Kendra nodded and started running.
Before she’d even run three steps, the kite took flight, shooting nearly straight up. Kendra played out more line. The kite soared higher.
“Definitely super,” Kendra said.
She kept feeding out the line, and working the kite higher. There was hardly any work to it. The kite really was super, and seemed to want to climb to the clouds.
Soon, the line was all spooled out. The kite, now barely more than a green dot in the sky, tugged harder.
Kendra held on. “No! You aren’t getting away!”
The kite tugged even harder.
Kendra stood on the tips of her toes, and tried to keep her arms down.
The kite was too strong. It pulled her arms up. And then, it pulled her off her feet.
“Yikes!” Kendra gasped.
By the time she realized she should have let go, it was too late. She’d been lifted high in the air above the beach.
“Hold on!” her parents shouted.
That seemed like a good idea.
Kendra held on.
But she kept rising.
This will not end well, she thought. She laughed, because that sounded like something her dad might say. She was scared, but she realized she was also excited. It was amazing to look down at the shore and the ocean, and at the looping roller coasters on the pier.
Kendra had never been in an airplane, but she didn’t think it could be anywhere near as amazing as this ride.
She tossed that thought aside as another one hit her. I have to save myself. She couldn’t wait for someone else to get her out of this situation. She had to be her own hero. And she had to act soon. The kite was still rising, and the air was getting chilly.
There was only one thing to do. Slowly, trying not to let her muscles get overtired, she reeled in the line, hauling herself up. Inch by inch, she moved closer to the kite. Finally, she reached it.
Kendra looked down. Then, she looked back up, because down was really far away. Everything seemed smaller than a model train layout.
The whole time she’d climbed the string, she’d thought about what she had to do. Now, it was time to do it. She didn’t like the idea, both because it would ruin her amazing super kite, and because if it didn’t work she’d be in big trouble.
“Here goes,” Kendra said.
She took her pinkie and poked a tiny hole in the kite.
It jerked hard, as if wounded. Then it settled back into its rise. But the rise felt just a tiny bit less steep.
Kendra poked another small hole in the paper, at a different spot.
The rise was barely noticeable now.
Carefully, Kendra added more holes, until the kite stopped climbing and started to drop. She added one final hole, to make sure she was going down, then held on and waited.
It was almost dark when she finally touched down, seven miles away from where she’d started. A police car, an ambulance, and a fire truck were there. Everyone had been following her trip. Later, she learned they’d talked about rescuing her with a helicopter, but someone had pointed out that the wind from the blade might have caused a huge problem.
After her parents had given her as many hugs as they needed, her mom took the kite away. “We’re getting rid of this one,” she said.
“Don’t worry,” her dad said. “We’ll get you another one if you still like kite flying.”
“I definitely like kite flying,” Kendra said. Especially when she was flown by the kite. She wondered what sort of adventure she could have, tomorrow, with that amazing dragon. Who knew where it might take her?
LOSING THE PICTURE
The worst things can happen suddenly. One moment, Neal was lying on the floor enjoying his favorite cartoon—Whizzbang Troopers in Hyper Space. Then, with no warning, the picture vanished. There was nothing on the screen but blackness and a dim reflection of the living room.
“Hey!” Neal said after he realized that this wasn’t some great new special effect.
“What’s wrong?” his sister Mary asked.
“Teebee gone,” two-year-old Trina said. “No teebee.”
“I’ll take care of this.” Neal knew that, as the oldest, it was his job to fix the problem. He got up and searched for the remote control. The search took several minutes. Somehow, the remote was always sneaking under a couch cushion or hiding behind the bookcase. This time, the remote had burrowed under a pile of magazines on the corner table. Neal tried a different channel. There was no picture. He tried turning the TV off and on. It didn’t help. He tried turning the TV off, counting to ten, then turning the TV on. That didn’t help either.
“Want teebee!” Trina shouted. She started to cry.
“Do something, Neal,” Mary said.
Neal thought about getting his mom. She was studying for her class and had asked them not to disturb her unless there was an emergency. Was this an emergency? It certainly seemed that way to Neal, but he still wanted to see if he could solve the problem himself. He grabbed the first thing he could find. “Trina, here, look at this.” He opened the magazine and flipped past the cover. “Look at all the pretty pictures.”
“Make pictures move,” Trina said.
“Sure,” Neal told her. “I can make them move.” He waved the magazine around and made whooshing sounds. For a moment, Trina just stared at him. Then she smiled. Then she grinned. Then she laughed.
“More,” Trina said.
Neal moved the magazine around some more. “Make pictures talk,” Trina said.
“I can do that.” Mary took the magazine. She held it up for Trina and started telling her a story about the pictures. She just seemed to be making the tale up as she went along. Trina kept smiling and giggling. Each time Mary turned a page, she changed the story to match the picture. No matter what was there—a person, a car, a toothbrush—Mary managed to make it interesting.
Neal sat down. He enjoyed listening to Mary’s story. It was full of surprises. When Mary was finished, even before Trina could shout for more, Neal took the magazine and started telling a story of his own. “This is fun,” he said between stories. He liked the way he could start with nothing but a picture and dream up a whole world of pretend adventures. He also enjoyed knowing that he could make anything he wanted happen, and the story could come out just the way he wished.
“My turn,” Mary said when Neal was finished. She took the magazine, flipped the pages to a picture of a stream, and started telling a story about a mermaid who lived in a creek that flowed through magic woods.
A truck pulled up outside. The screech of its brakes startled Neal. He hadn’t realized how quiet it was in the house.
“I’ll be right back,” he said. His mom had asked him to keep an eye out for a package she was expecting. He went to the porch to get it. As he turned toward the door, he noticed something flapping in the wind. The wire connecting the TV to the antenna had pulled loose. That’s all it was. The antenna had become disconnected. His mom could hook that back up in a second. Neal realized it was almost time for the Adventures of Captain Superblast and his Zany Sidekicks.
He returned to the living room, eager to show his sisters that he had found the problem. As he walked in, Neal heard part of the story Mary was telling about an elf who lived inside a giant detergent box. “Guess what,” he said proudly. He felt great that he’d figured out the trouble all by himself.
“What?” Mary glanced up from the magazine.
Neal looked at the blank TV screen. He listened to the sounds in the room. There weren’t any. It was kind of nice. “Nothing,” he said. There would be plenty of time later for television. Besides, he wanted to learn what happened to the elf. He sat down on the rug and listened to his sister tell a story.
STARSCAPE BOOKS BY DAVID LUBAR
Novels
Emperor of the
Universe
Flip
Hidden Talents
True Talents
Monsterrific Tales
Hyde and Shriek
The Vanishing Vampire
The Unwilling Witch
The Wavering Werewolf
The Gloomy Ghost
The Bully Bug
Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series
My Rotten Life
Dead Guy Spy
Goop Soup
The Big Stink
Enter the Zombie
Story Collections
Attack of the Vampire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Beware the Ninja Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Check out the Library Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
The Curse of the Campfire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
In the Land of the Lawn Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Invasion of the Road Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Strikeout of the Bleacher Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Wipeout of the Wireless Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales
Teeny Weenies: The Boy Who Cried Wool and Other Stories
Teeny Weenies: Fishing for Pets and Other Stories
Teeny Weenies: Freestyle Frenzy and Other Stories
Teeny Weenies: The Intergalactic Petting Zoo and Other Stories
Teeny Weenies: My Favorite President and Other Stories
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DAVID LUBAR credits his passion for short stories to his limited attention span and bad typing skills, though he has been known to sit still and peck at the keyboard long enough to write a novel or chapter book now and then, including Hidden Talents (an ALA Best Book for Young Adults) and My Rotten Life, which is currently under development for a cartoon series. He lives in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, with his amazing wife, and not too far from his amazing daughter. In his spare time, he takes naps on the couch. You can sign up for email updates here.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
BILL MAYER is absolutely amazing. Bill’s crazy creatures, characters, and comic creations have been sought after for magazine covers, countless articles, and even stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. He has won almost every illustration award known to man and even some known to fish. Bill and his wife live in Decatur, Georgia. They have a son and three grandsons. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
The Eighth Octopus
The Power of Words
The Middleman
For the Love of Tennis
Foodie Dreams
Bait 4 Sale
The Life of Pie
The Language of Music
April Fools
Flapping in the Breeze
Go Fly a Kite
Losing the Picture
Starscape Books by David Lubar
About the Author and Illustrator
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE EIGHTH OCTOPUS AND OTHER STORIES
Copyright © 2020 by David Lubar
Illustrations copyright © 2020 Bill Mayer
All rights reserved.
A Starscape Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-18786-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-18787-1 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250187871
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: May 2020